Veteran Wounded In The Battle Of Okinawa, Beaten To Death By Teens

Our friends over at US Infantry sent us this awful story coming out of Spokane, Washington. Delbert Belton, an 88-year-old WWII Veteran that survived the Battle Of Okinawa after being wounded, was attacked and left for dead Wednesday evening.

According to KLXY.com, Witnesses say Belton was in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge at 6410 N. Lidgerwood, adjacent to the Eagles Ice-A-Rena, around 8 p.m. Wednesday when the two male suspects attacked him as he was about to head inside to play pool.

Police responded with K-9s to track the suspects’ scent but were not able to locate them.

“It does appear random. He was in the parking lot, it appears he was assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault,” Spokane Police Major Crimes Detective Lieutenant Mark Griffiths said.

Shorty,” as he was known by his friends at the Eagles Lodge, served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during WWII and was shot in the leg during the Battle of Okinawa. He went on to work at Kaiser Aluminum at the company’s Trentwood plant for more than 30 years. Belton’s wife passed away several years ago.

He loved playing pool, even though he claimed he was no good at it and had been a member of the Eagles Lodge for the last four months. In addition to playing pool he loved working on cars.

Shorty was Ted Denison’s best friend of 23 years; the two played pool occasionally and worked on cars daily.

“He was always there for me when I needed him,” Denison said. “We’d joke back and forth. We were always having fun, some sort of fun.”

He was the kind of nice old man who’d become your friend in minutes.

“Probably every time I come into town, he’d have a project for me to do,” Denison said. “I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend really.”

Mr. Belton died from his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

So there does not seem to be a motive as of yet, but if I had to guess, I would say robbery. I am sorry but this really pi***s me off! This man served his country, was wounded and survived, and these COWARDS attack him and beat him to death!!

He was 88 years old, and it took two of them to beat him? I want them caught and brought to justice! Lets get this story out to everyone, share it everywhere and let’s get these cowards caught and in a jail cell where they belong!

This man is a Hero, and to his family I would like to send our condolences and heart felt thanks for what he did for us and our Freedom. I am sure the PD will bring these two to justice, since this is now a Homicide investigation.

Here are the images provided from the surveillance camera of the two suspects, you can contact the Spokane PD here: Spokane Police Department Tipline (509) 242-TIPS (8477), if you have seen them or have other info.

If you have info, and do not want to contact the PD, you can email us and we will forward it on and keep you anonymous. We just want these cowards behind bars!

Homicide Suspect 1

Homicide Suspect 2

HELP US BRING JUSTICE TO THIS HERO!

Here is a Video with some small updates, people are placing flowers etc at the place where he was attacked.